Grant: Doctoral Research Award: Canada Graduate Scholarships

People with insomnia disorder have trouble falling or staying asleep, and/or wake up earlier than desired. They also are 10 and 18 times more likely to have depression or anxiety, respectively, than good sleepers. Importantly, older adults with insomnia have a higher risk of reporting a decline of their memory and tend to perform poorly on memory tasks than older adults without sleep disorders. A medication-free treatment to improve sleep that is called cognitive-behavioural therapy for insomnia (CBTi) has been shown to improve symptoms of insomnia and depression reported by older adults. But, no study has assessed if a novel, online CBTi program (eCBTi+) that targets sleep, depression, and anxiety can also reduce anxiety or memory decline reported by older adults with insomnia. eCBTi+ can be better than regular CBTi because it is accessible, free, and has no wait times with trained professionals. As depression and anxiety can worsen insomnia and vice versa, treating together depression, anxiety, and insomnia symptoms with eCBTi+ could further enhance sleep and mental health of older adults. Also, one study showed that the communication between brain regions that are involved in memory was better in adults with insomnia after CBTi. But, no study has assessed if there are different brain responses during a memory task between older adults with insomnia and good sleepers and if eCBTi+ can improve brain responses of older adults with insomnia. The effects of the combined behavioural and cognitive treatment for insomnia (eCBTi+) on memory performance in older adults with insomnia also remain unknown. Thus, this study will assess the effects of eCBTi+ on: 1) sleep and mental health; 2) self-reported memory and performance on a memory task; 3) brain responses during a memory task. This study will provide us with a better understanding of mental health and changes in memory that occur in chronic insomnia and help find treatments to reduce the impact of these changes.